Indian judo’s tryst with destiny despite off-field issues
For thirty four years, Indian judo stood on the Commonwealth Games podium eleven times without ever climbing to its top step. On July 31, 2026, at the SEC centre in Glasgow, that wait ended twice in the space of half an hour. The manner in which the search for gold medal ended says as much about the athletes’ resilience as it does about a federation that nearly sabotaged its own moment. The contest Asmita Dey, 23, from Tripura, went first. In the women’s 48kg final, she fell behind early to Canada’s Heidi Quach, conceding a score and a penalty inside the opening exchanges. Trailing after conceding a yuko and a penalty early in the bout, she fought back to level the contest before holding her nerve in the golden score period, where a decisive yuko sealed a contest that was won 2-1 in a golden score decision. It was, by any definition, the hard way to make history, and Dey became the first Indian judoka to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal. She had not …
